It is frequently desirable to provide a valve for use with a Foley catheter which valve may be opened or closed at will simply by inserting the blunt end of a syringe without a needle into the valve. This is particularly useful in connection with a Foley catheter wherein it is necessary to inflate and deflate the catheter balloon expeditiously.
An example of a prior art type of valve is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,438 (Allen et al). This particular valve includes a plug having an integral normally closed self-sealing apertured portion having a passage therethrough which is formed by puncturing the tube end, and a tension member which fits over the plug and inside the catheter tube. In operation, a syringe is inserted into the passage in the apertured portion and comes into contact with the normally closed end of the plug thereby pushing on the end of the plug to force open the aperture. The valve member is adhesively fixed in the catheter tube and the assembly of the three parts including the formation of the slit, glueing of the inner part in the outer parts and fixing the two parts within the catheter tube is difficult, time consuming and is always expensive.
Another example of a syringe actuated valve is U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,594 (Swanson). This valve includes a housing, a resilient plug and a retaining member. This valve requires assembly prior to connection to the catheter. In addition, a needle is necessary to puncture the solid plug material and thereby open the valve. This valve cannot be opened without inserting a needle therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,381 (Arroyo) is a three piece valve device for use with catheters. The device includes a body, a hollow tubular member cover, and a ring member. To assemble this valve the ring member is slipped over a flexible tube, the body is inserted into the flexible tube, the tubular cover is placed over the body and flexible tube, and finally the ring member is forced between the tubular cover and the flexible tube to provide additional support to the valve. This valve relies on the resilience of the flexible tube to retain the valve channel in the closed position. This is not highly reliable since the size or resiliency of catheter tubes may vary. Also, this valve cannot be opened without insertion of a syringe.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a catheter valve which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a syringe-actuated valve member for a Foley catheter which is formed of two parts and which requires no precutting or glueing to secure the valve in place and which is effective in preventing leakage between the valve and catheter.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive syringe check valve for a catheter which is easy to use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a syringe check valve that requires little or no assembly.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the summary and detailed description which follow.